Cym's Classroom Catastrophes

Introduction

Hi. I'm Cym, and I teach World History to 6th graders at Fritz Barnett Intermediate in Santa Fe, Texas. What's NOT to love about my job? I get to devote my time and energy to a subject I LOVE, then share that with young people. I get to feel, at the end of the day, as if I've tried to do my part to teach young people to think critically about what's happening in the world around us, and what decisions might be the best ones for a democratic nation to make.

My video . . .

Attributions:
IMG_2596 (Portal Dolmen, Ireland), by G.K. Raines, c. 2008, all rights reserved, used with permission
Avebury, by Kurt Thomas Hunt, Flickr Creative Commons, some rights reserved
IMG_6437 (Knowth, Bru na Boinne), by G.K. Raines, c. 2010, all rights reserved, used with permission
IMG_7051 (New Grange, Ireland), c. 2010, G.K. Raines, all rights reserved, used with permission
Pentre Ifan Prehistoric Burial Dolmen, by Mark Whatmough, Flickr Creative Commons, some rights reserved
Summer Solstice 2010-Silbury Hill, by vintagedept (Ann Wuyts), Flickr Creative Commons, some rights reserved
240 Skara Brae Orkney, c. 2008 by G.K. Raines, all rights reserved, used with permission
IMG_6898 (Tara, King's Stone), c. 2010 by G.K. Raines, all rights reserved, used with permission
West Kennett Long Barrow, by oddsock (Ian Burt), Flickr Creative Commons, some rights reserved
249 Standing Stones of Stennes Orkney, c. 2008 by G.K. Raines, all rights reserved, used with permission
Music:
Beethoven, Ludwig von. "Sonata for Piano No. 14, Moonlight Sonata--Adagio Sostenuto." Accessed via Animoto, 8 July 2010 at www.animoto.com

Favorite Things

Books: Too many to name, but JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis are my favorite authors
Movie: Again, lots to choose from, but I really do like "Lady Jane." This "Jane" speaks eloquently and with great strength about her passions. Some of my favorite quotes also come from this movie. I won't bore you with those.
My favorite superheroes are the teachers I work with, who inspire me (and put up with me) 180+ days of the year.
Here's a very little Latin I learned once upon a time, but I'm not sure anymore if it's entirely correct:

Latina est mortua Lingua.	Latin is a dead language.
Est clara Conspiricieri.	It's clearly a conspiracy.
Prima Romanos necavit,	First it killed the Romans,
Et nunc, mea necat.	And now, it's killing me.

My favorite place to travel is Wales, GBR--more castles per square mile than any other place on earth.

Burning Questions:

How old is too old to go back to college for a grad degree?

Has anyone in history ever geometrically trisected an angle? Can you?

Can anyone tell me why every time I edit this page, it adds spaces ahead of the title?